SNAP as a work support in California: worker participation and Employment and Training outcomes

• In Event: Strengthening the U.S. safety net and transfer programs for low-income families

Abstract

To provide a novel and actionable lens for increasing SNAP participation among eligible low-wage people, and to identify promising strategies for increasing economic mobility among workers with SNAP, we 1) estimate low and varied participation by workers in SNAP in California, and 2) explore how counties’ SNAP Employment and Training programs could improve labor market outcomes for eligible participants. California’s program (CalFresh) is county-run, allowing for potential opportunities to leverage program differences to estimate causal effects of program services on program participation and labor supply outcomes. Many SNAP participants use benefits to supplement earnings: roughly one in three low-wage workers in California is enrolled in SNAP, and most working-age adults new to SNAP are connected to the labor market (Bohn et al. 2023; Thorman, et al. 2022). At the same time, participation is lower among likely eligible workers than overall (Cunnyngham 2021). California considers individuals receiving SNAP and participating in SNAP E&T a priority in its wide array of workforce development programs, although only 35 of 58 counties offer voluntary SNAP Employment and Training programs, which aim to help people gain employment and increase earnings. Leveraging individual-level state administrative data and American Community Survey samples, we estimate program participation rates among prime-age workers (25-54). Based on employment status documented in administrative data, we identify workers as those with current or past year earnings from jobs covered by Unemployment Insurance (UI). We disaggregate rates by region, industry, and demographics to understand key variation. Next, relying on administrative data, we track among all workers with SNAP whether they receive benefits and earnings simultaneously or sequentially, whether they receive UI, and whether they work in low-paid industries or are low-paid in their industry; we examine variation in these outcomes by industry of employment and patterns of SNAP use. Finally, we match wage records to novel SNAP E&T program records to analyze the near-term employment and earnings trajectories of prime-age SNAP E&T participants, using the best available comparison groups. We are assessing a range of possibilities, including those exposed to differing programs cross-county and over time as well as those who started in E&T but did not finish and those who did not participate in E&T but who are otherwise observationally similar. Much of the research in this area has focused on the impacts of requiring adults to work while enrolled in SNAP. These have not been shown to increase employment, and we posit that policymakers looking to improve economic mobility for adults in SNAP should focus on those who are working and earning so little as to be eligible, and the employment and training supports the program can offer. California has little evidence on the effectiveness of its network of SNAP E&T programs, but plenty of potential to use them to draw down additional federal funds – which could be critical in a time when federal investments are uncertain. One contribution of this research is to shed light on how doing so could be effective in California, using new individual-level E&T participation data.

Authors

• Tess Thorman, Public Policy Institute of California
  Presenting Author

• Caroline Danielson, Public Policy Institute of California
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Patricia Malagon, Public Policy Institute of California
  Non-Presenting Co-Author